Azhar shows he has the stomach for the fight to make Swann eat his hat!
THISwas supposed to be the day England delivered the decisive blows in the Investec Test series against Pakistan, the day when the force of their crushing victory to draw level at Old Trafford enabled them to draw clear of their shell-shocked opponents here at Edgbaston before disappearing out of sight at the Oval.
Instead, spurred on in equal measure by the criticisms of skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and the mockery of those who insisted his side’s batting frailty in Manchester was proof they were there for the taking, veteran Azhar Ali and novice Sami Aslam served notice that they do indeed possess the guts for a scrap all the way to the final ball.
Reserving judgement on England’s first innings of 297 until both sides had batted on this straw-coloured pitch, many believed they might well have squeezed out a potentially matchwinning total.
Former Test star Graeme Swann went so far as to promise listeners to Test Match Special that if Pakistan reached 450 in response, he would eat his hat, which prompted the rest of the commentary team to come up with serving suggestions ranging from a Guardsman’s Busby to a building site hard-hat.
At the close of play, on 257-3, Pakistan were still some way short of putting the Ashes winner’s gnashers to that test.
But as Azhar departed, caught off the final ball for 139, he could reflect on a day when he did almost everything right and England almost everything wrong, including leader of the attack James Anderson coming with a whisker of being taken out of the attack by the officials for running on the pitch.
Azhar’s second Test century against England, his first outside Asia and his tenth in all was a near-faultess mix of studious defence and purposeful runmaking.
He reached it with a gloved punch off his hip against Stuart Broad for his tenth boundary from 209 deliveries.
He celebrated it with the now familiar ten press-ups which thrilled Pakistan’s supporters but amused Broad and Anderson rather less, before kneeling to kiss the turf. And as he did so, he erased the only significant blot on his copybook, his call for a single that ended the 20-year-old Aslam’s excellent knock of 82 in only his third Test and allowed James Vince to run him out with a direct hit to end their stand of 181 runs for the second wicket.
The last time Azhar scored a century against England, back in 2012, his painstaking nine-hour 157 from 442 balls set up victory in the third Test in Dubai and earned him the man-of-the-match award.
Considering he had been out of sorts for much of the tour, Azhar’s demonstration of sheer delight was quite understandable, as was the frustration England’s bowlers felt at colliding with such stubborn and possibly unexpected resistance. No-one does grumpy like Anderson, of course, but the look on the face of England leading Test wicket-taker as, in the over after Azhar raised his bat, he was given two official warnings by umpire Bruce Oxenford for landing in the “red zone” of the pitch in his follow-though, was blacker than hell itself.
Anderson’s morning had started with a smile when he saw Mohammad Hafeez slap a wide long-hop to Gary Ballance in the covers from his fourth ball to leave Pakistan 0-1 in the opening over.
He seemed to take the first warning from Oxenford, by way of an unofficial word in the ear, in his stride.
But his mood darkened in the
over after lunch when Azhar offered England the first of the two chances they squandered to their cost.
Ahzar and Aslam had put on 72 for the second wicket, when the former, on 38, was lured forward into a rare front-foot drive only to steer a healthy edge towards ewatrds Joe root at second slip. Possibly moving a fraction late, Root died to his left but failed to hang on.
As the partnership passed three figures and beyond 150, Anderson’s mood was only the public face of the growing angst felt by all England’s pacemen.
Cook said before the match that he saw a glint in Finn’s eye when he told him he was to replace Ben Stokes here and the Middlesex man bowled with commendable purpose.
But whereas, in the Ashes victory on the same ground 12 months ago, Finn reaped the reward for pitching the ball up with eight wickets in the match to give England the series lead, now, on a slower surface, he was consistently too short.
Broad tried to find a spark but failed, Chris Woakes was the quickest on show but struggled with his line.
And spinner Moeen Ali, for all the work done with Saqlain Mushtaq, again looked short of genuine Test class, even though he did draw Azhar’s second error – a powerful drive which burst through the bowler’s hands.
The second last straw for Anderson may have been the overthrows that gifted Pakistan five runs off Finn. But Oxenford's intervention, entirely correct according to the laws of the game, meant worse was still to come.
Earlier this year, in England’s third Test against South Africa in Johannesburg Anderson was barred from bowling by Aleem Dar.
Indeed Cook seemed to be playing with fire when he entrusted his premier bowler with the new ball when it became due half an hour before the close but, fortunately for both, this time Anderson steered well clear of danger and, indeed, apologised to both umpires after the close.